Playing apparatus for musical instruments.



W. C. REED.

PLAYING APPARATUS FOR MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS. APPLICATION min IAN.29,'19I3.

1,165,903. Patented Dec.28,1915.

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PLAYING APPARATUS FOR MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS.

APPLlCATlON FILED MN. 29, I913.

Patented Dec. 28, 1915.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WALTER C. REED, 0F DALTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO THE TELELECTRIC COMPANY, OF PITTSFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS, A CORPORATION OF MASSACHUSETTS.

PLAYING APPARATUS FOR MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 28, 1915.

Application filed January 29, 1913. Serial No. 744,815.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WALTER C. REED, a citizen of the United States, residing at Dalton, in the county of Berkshire and State of Massachusetts, have invented new and useful Improvements in Playing Apparatus for Musical Instruments, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to electrically-operated apparatus for playing pianos and analogous musical instruments, and has to do more particularly with those parts of such apparatus which produce what may be called general expression effects in the compositions played. The means commonly employed for producing such effects include appliances for operating the loud and soft pedals of the piano, or the string dampers directly, and also for varying the strength of the current transmitted through the playing magnets and thereby regulating the loudness with which the notes are sounded. Appliances of this character frequently require to be maintained in operation during considerable intervals, in order to produce sustained expression effects, but if this is done by providing the music sheet with perforations which are proportional in length to the respective intervals, such perforations are of such length and occur with such frequency in many cases that the music sheet is undesirably weakened thereby and is liable not only to break away between the perforations but also to be distorted and operate inaccurately during its passage through the apparatus. On the other-hand, if the appliances above referred to are each made operative by momentarily closing a circu t by means of a short perforation in the music sheet and are subsequently rendered inoperative by means of another circuit momentarily closed by another short perforation in the music sheet, as has sometimes been done, then said sheet must be provided with two distinct series of perforations for each expression-producing appliance and the width of the sheet is thereby increased to an undesirable extent. .These objections are overcome by my present invention, according to which each appliance for producing general expression effects is operated by a corresponding circuit which is opened and closed as desired bymeans of an electromagnetic device in the nature of a relay, the operation of this relay being controlled in turn by short perforations in the music sheet in such manner that said sheet needs to be provided with but one series of perforations for each appliance, plus one other series for all the appliances collectively.

My improvements also provide for controlling the operation of the various expression appliances manually, either in conunct1on with the automatic operation of the music sheet or independently thereof.

The various features of my invention, as preferably constructed and arranged for use n an automatic piano player, are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a diagram showing the various circuits; Fig. 2 is an end elevation of a circuit-controller hereinafter described; Fig. 3 is a front elevation of so much of the same as is behind the section line 00-00 in Fig. 2; Fig. 4 is a top plan view of the same; and Fig. 5 is a central longitudinal section through one of the magnets illustrated in Figs. 2, 3 and 4.

In the construction illustrated in the drawings provision is made for operating four different appliances for producing general expression effects, including the loud and soft pedals of a piano and two other appliances which may be of any desired character but will be assumed herein to consist of devices for independently subduing the base and treble notes respectively by increasing the resistance of the energizing circuits for the playing magnets corresponding to these groups of notes. The number of these appliances might be more or less than four, however. None of the appliances above referred to are illustrated, as they may be of any usual or suitable construction, and it will therefore suflice to describe the arrangement of the circuits which operate them. to-

gether with the means for controlling these circuits.

Referring first to Fig. 1 of the drawings, I have represented therein a contact bar 2 at which the various circuits controlled by the perforated music sheet are opened and closed in any suitable manner. A circuit wire 3 leads from the bar 2 to a power terminal 4 and includes a manually-operated starting and stopping switch 5, through which the energizing current for all the circuits is turned on or shut off as desired. The other power terminal 6 is connected to the various return circuits hereinafter described,

and the electric current is brought to the terminals l and 6 from the poles of any suitable generator (not shown). None of the playing magnets or their circuits are illustrated, as their construction and arrangement is not material to the present invention.

Associated with the contact bar 2 are five contact fingers 0, c c 0* and 0 the operation of which is controlled by the music sheet and each of which is connected to a corresponding circuit wire.

circuit wire 8. Provision is thus made for energizing and deenergizing each of these four magnets independently of the others, and the same are utilized to control four corresponding circuits, each of which includes one of the expressionproducing appliances and is closed by a contact device when the corresponding magnet is energized, whereupon it remains closed until the fifth magnet m is energized, as hereinafter described.

Of the various circuits controlled by the four magnets m, m m and m, the loud and soft pedal-operating circuits include respectively circuitwires 9 and 10 extending from one side of the contact devices 71: and to the pedahoperating magnets in the piano and another circuit wire 1.1 which is common to both of the pedal-operating circuits and extends from the other side of contact devices it and 762 to the circuit wire 3, by which it is connected to the power terminal 4, while still. another circuit wire 12 serves as a common. retur wire for both the pedal-operating magnets in the piano and extends therefrom to the binding post 7 connected to the power terminal 6. The pedals will therefore be operated whenever their respective circuits are closed at the contact devices 0 and 7% by the magnets m" and m The circuit controlledby the magnet m is opened and closed at the contact device 76 and includes circuit wires 13 and 14 leading from opposite sides of said contact devices 713 to the corresponding expression appliance. In like manner the circuit controlled by the magnet m is opened and closed at the contact device 7: and includes circuit wires 15 and 16 leading from opposite sides of this contact device to theother expression appliance, the arrangement being'such that whenever either of these circuits is closed at the contact device 70 or is the corresponding expression appliance is caused to operate.

a felt disk 25 to prevent noise.

The energizing circuit for the magnet m includes the circuit wire 6 above referred to and a return wire 17 connecting its coils to the binding post 7. The function of this In Figs. 2, 3 and a, 18 represents a base plate having mounted thereon the four magnets, m; m m no, side by side,'with the fifth magnet m located above them at the middle of the series-and clamped in place by a bar 19 secured at its ends to brackets 20 and 21 projecting upward from the base plate 18. Each of these magnets is of the solenoid type and has a plunger ar ranged to move horizontally within it, as shown in Fig. 5, but the plungers of the magnets m, of, m and m instead of being constantly subjected to the action of a spring or gravity tending to move them in one direction, are in this case left free, so that each plunger will remain in any position in which it is left unless purposely moved therefrom. Each plunger has a reduced extension 23 carrying at its outer end a stop 24 adapted to abut against the corresponding end of the magnet and faced by At its other end each of theplungers belonging to the magnets m, m m and m is provided with atip 26 which also serves as a stop and faced with a felt disk 27, and since said tip is located adjacent to the main or unreduced portion of its plunger it will be drawn toward its magnet when the latter is energized.

In front of each tip 26 is located a contact device consisting of a metallic strip 28, shaped like an inverted U and fixed to an insulating block 29 carried by thebase plate 18, and a pair of springwires 30 secured at one end to the block 29 and having their free ends arranged to spring into contact with the strip 28 on opposite sides of the latter when permitted to do so. For sprea ding these wires 30 and thus breaking the circuit through them the tip 26 is utilized. it being made of hard rubber or other insulating material and provided with two portions 31 and 32 having different diameters and joined by a tapering portion 33. The diameter of the portion 31 is less than the distance between the free ends portions of the wires 30 when the latter are in contact with the strip 28, while the diameter of the portion 32 is greater than the distance just referred to, so that the tapering portion 33 is adapted to act as a cam or wedge to force the wires 30 apart when the plunger 22 is moved outward from its magnet. Thus the circuit through the wires 30 and strip 28 will be broken whenever said plunger is moved outward, and will be closed whenever the corresponding magnet is energized and the plunger is drawn inward thereby, the object of employing two wires 30 in connection with a single strip 28 being to make certain that the circuit will be closed even though one of the wires should accidentally become bent or the parts should be otherwise disarranged sufliciently to hold the wire on one side of the strip 28 out of contact therewith after the plunger has been drawn inward.

The magnet m is utilized for moving all the plungers 22 outward simultaneously, to which end the plunger of said magnet m is arranged to move in the opposite direction from the other plungers when said magnet is energized and carries in place of a tip such as 26 a bar 34 having four resilient abutments 35 secured thereto, the free end of each abutment being covered with a felt facing 36 located immediately in front of the reduced extension 23 on one of the plungers 22. Hence the energizing of the magnet m will result in drawing its plunger inward and thereby pushing all th\ other plungers-outward, thus causing them to break the circuits respectively controlled thereby by spreading the corresponding wires 30. The object of employing resilient abutments 35 as contrasted with rigid abutments is to enable any one of the circuits through the wires 30 to be kept closed-while the other circuits are opened by the energizing of the magnet m and it will be evident that this result will occur if the power of each of the magnets m, m m and m is sufiicient to overcome the spring pressure exerted on its plunger by the corresponding abutment 35 when said magnet is ener gized. The plunger of the latter magnet is moved outward by a spring 8 when its magnet is denergized.

The terminals of the magnet coils are connected to their energizing circuits through metallic clips 37 attached to an insulating bar 38 in accordance with the wiring diagram shown in Fig. 1, and similar metallic clips 39 and 40, connected to the strips 28 and wires 30 respectively, serve as a convenient means for attachment of the wires of the respective expression-controlling circuits, which are indicated in Fig. 4 by the same numerals as in Fig. 1. The four contact devices shown in Figs. 2, 3 and 4 correspond to the contact devices indicated diagrammatically at I0 7: and k in Fig. 1, and are so marked therein.

In the operation of the apparatus above described each circuit which operates an expression-producing appliance is closed as soon as that one of the magnets m, m, m, m which corresponds thereto is caused to draw its plunger inward by the closing of its energizing circuit at the contact bar 2. The closing of the latter circuit needs to be momentary only, and hence it will be accomplished by providing the music sheet with a short perforation in suitable position to operate the corresponding contact finger at said bar 2 at the proper time. When an expression-producing appliance has thus been caused to operate, its operation will evidently be continued until the magnet m is momentarily energized by the passage of a perforation in the music sheet beneath the contact finger 0 which controls the circuit through this magnet, and thereupon the expression-appliance circuit will be opened and will remain open until purposely closed again as above described. If several of the latter circuits have been closed and it is desired to open a part of them only, this may be done by providing the music sheet with perforations located in position to close the circuits through the appropriate magnets (m, m", m or m simultaneously with the closing of the circuit through the magnet on, whereupon the latter magnet will operate to push all the plungers outward except those which belong to the magnets in closed circuit at that time. The various expression-producing appliances may thus be caused to operate singly or collectively, in any desired sequence or combination, without requiring the music sheet to be pro vided with any long circuit-controlling perforation, or with more than one series of such perforations for each expression-producing appliance, plus an additional series for causing the magnet m to operate, and it is an important advantage of my apparatus that it prevents sparking at the contact bar 2 in case a powerful current is required for operating any of the expressionproducing appliances, such as the pedal-opcrating magnets for example, since the latter current does not pass through the contact bar at all, the circuit which carries it being opened and closed by a magnet which is itself operated by a relatively weak current.

In addition to the circuits above described I have shown in Fig. 1 certain other circuits subject to manual control, whereby provision ;is made for causing some or all of the expression-producing appliances to operate independently of the music sheet, as is usually desirable in apparatus of this character. For example, -11 in Fig. 1 indicates a circuit wire extending from the wire 10 to a normally-open manual switch 42 and thence to the wire 3; i3 and 44 indicate other cir cuit wires connected to the wires 13 and 14a respectively and extending therefrom to a normally-open manual switch -15, and 46 ands-7 indicate other circuit wires connected in like manner to the wires 15 and lorespectively and extending therefrom to another normally-open manual switch 48. By

closing the circuit at any one of these manual switchesthe corresponding expression-producing appliance will evidently be caused to operate irrespective of themusic sheet, thus enabling the operator toexercise m be left in condition to be opened and closed automatically, but as this might often be undesirable I prefer to include in the common return wire 6 a normally-closed manual switch l9 by opening which all of the magnets m, of, m and m may be prevented from operating. In such case their plungers will be left in their normal or circuitopening position, and the circuits controlled thereby will therefore be subject exclusively to the manual control afforded by the switches of which 42, 45 and 48 are examples. I have also shown in Fig. 1 another manual switch 50 included in the circuit wire 11, which switch is normally closed but may be opened to prevent the automatic closing of the pedal-operating circuits by their respective magnets m and 111?. This makes it possible to subject the pedals to manual control only, simultaneously with the automatic control of the other expression-producing circuits which is provided for by the magnets m and m and their associated circuits. Provision may be made for controlling the several circuits in various other ways without departing from my invention, particularly as regards the construction and arrangement of the circuitcontrolling device represented by the magnets m, m m m and m and their associated parts, as will be evident, and my apparatus may also be utilized advantageously for controlling the stops in an electricallyoperated organ player, and in fact in many situations where electric circuits are required to be rapidly opened and closed, and to be kept open or closed during considerable intervals.

Theform of circuit controller shown in Figs. 2, 3, 4 and 5, which is preferably employed in connection with the other parts above described, is not claimed herein by itself, as it is capable of use in various relations and forms thesubject matter of a copending application for Letters Patent filed Jan. 80, 1913, Serial No. 745094.

I claim:

1. In a playing apparatus for musical instruments, the combination of an expression-controlling circuit, a contact device for opening and closing the same, an electromagnet for moving said contact device into its closed-circuit position, another electromagnet for moving said contact device into its open-circuit position, energizing circuits for said magnets, and means adapted to be controlled by a music sheet for opening and closing the magnet-energizing circuits independently of each other.

2. In a playing apparatus for musical instruments, the combination of an expressioncontrolling circuit, a contact device for opening and closing the same, an electro-magnet for moving said contact device into its closed-circuit position, another electro-magnet for moving said contact device into its open-circuit position, energizing circuits for said magnets, means adapted to be controlled by a music sheet for opening and closing the magnet-energizing circuits independently of each other, and manually-operated means for opening and closing the expression-controlling circuit independently of said magnets. 3. In a playing apparatus for musical instruments, the combination of a plurality of expression controlling circuits, means comprising a plurality of electro-magnets, one for each of said circuits, for independently closing the latter, a supplementary magnet and means operated thereby for opening all of said circuits, an energizing circuit for each of said magnets, and means adapted to be controlled by a music sheet for opening and closing the magnetenergizing circuits independently. of one another.

4. In a playing apparatus for musical instruments, the combination of a plurality of expression-controlling circuits, means comprising a plurality of electro-magnets, one for each of said circuits, for independently closing the latter, a supplementary magnet and means operated thereby for opening all of said circuits, an energizing circuit for each of said magnets, means adapted to be controlled by a music sheet for opening and closing the magnet-energizing circuits independently of one another, and manuallyoperated means for opening and closing one or more of the expression-controlling circuits independently of said magnets.

5. In a playing apparatus for musical instruments, the combination of a plurality of ated means for opening and closing one or more of the expression-controlling circuits independently of said magnets, and manually operated means for rendering said magnets inoperative.

6. In a playing apparatus for musical instruments, the combination of a plurality of expression-controlling circuits, means comprising a plurality of electro-magnets, one for each of said circuits, for independently closing the latter, circuits including a common return Wire for energizing said magnets, a supplementary magnet and means operated thereby for opening all of the expression-controlling circuits, means adapted to be controlled by a music sheet for opening and closing the magnet-energizing circuits independently of one another, means for opening and closing the circuit through said common return wire, and manually operated means for opening and closing one or more of the expression-controlling circuits.

7. In a playing apparatus for musical instruments, the combination of an expressioncontrolling circuit, means comprising an electro-magnet for closing said circuit, means comprising a supplementary magnet for opening said circuit, energizing circuits for said magnets, and means adapted to be controlled by a music sheet for opening and closing the magnet-energizing circuits independently of one another, said expressioncontrolling circuit being composed in part of parallel branches of Which each is subject to manual control and one only is subject to the automatic control of the magnets.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto subscribed my name this eighteenth day of January, 1913.

WVALTER C. REED. Witnesses:

E. D. CHADWICK, PHILIP W. GOEWEY.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the "Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. 

